Swifts coach predicting tight finish

SYDNEY (AAP) - Apr 22 - NSW Swifts coach Julie Fitzgerald says four teams could easily finish level on points in the frantic scramble for trans-Tasman netball competition finals places.
The Swifts' 40-39 penultimate round win over the Steel on Thursday, the Steel's first competition loss in Dunedin, lifted them into second spot with 16 points from 12 games, six points behind runaway leader and confirmed minor premier Queensland.
NSW hold second on percentage from New Zealand's Magic, who will go back above the Swifts if they win their tricky game away to Adelaide on Sunday.
If Magic lose and remain on 16 points, they and the Swifts could be joined on that tally by Melbourne Vixens and Mystics, if as expected, they record home wins this weekend over New Zealand stragglers Pulse and Tactix.
"I think that could quite easily happen," Fitzgerald told AAP shortly before boarding a flight in Wellington.
"It's going to be precariously close, I think."
Big wins to Vixens and Mystics could lift them both above Swifts on percentage heading into next week's final round.
That set of games includes a blockbuster between Vixens and Swifts in Melbourne on Sunday, followed almost immediately that afternoon by Mystics playing away to Steel.
Magic host struggling Pulse on Monday in the final game of the regular season.
The Swifts' victory in Dunedin ended a hectic spell of four games in 11 days from which NSW emerged with three wins.
"I'm always going for four out of four but yes I am happy with that," Fitzgerald said.
"I think it was such a gutsy win where you look at where we'd come from, four games in 11 days, the amount of travel that we've done.
"To be able to come from behind and win like that was pretty exceptional.
"I think they were just so desperate in the end. They played some of the best defence I've seen in that side. They were just so hungry to get their hands on the ball."
She felt the intense schedule had helped improve her side's cohesion after some patchy performances through the first half of the competition.
Unbeaten Firebirds will attempt to notch their 12th successive win when they host Australian strugglers West Coast Fever on Anzac Day.